BrewDog's chief executive has responded to the latest allegations made in the BBC’s Good Ship Brewdog podcast.
Speaking to entrepreneur and Dragons' Den member Steven Bartlett for his Diary Of A CEO podcast, James Watt opened up about his personal struggles and mistakes he has made with the 15-year old business.
Since a group of former staff penned an open letter of complaint last June, the brewery boss has faced intense scrutiny of his management style and reputation, as well as issues with BrewDog's HR and marketing approach.
“It's completely fair to say at times in the journey I have been too intense, I have been too demanding, that I have set standards for the team that I would set for myself, and for a lot of the team members that is unattainable... I did push people too far”, Watt said in the interview.
He claimed that his actions were done with “100% good intentions”.
Watt continued: ”I just pushed for such high standards, unrealistic deadlines, it's because I was so focused on 'let's build the thing, let's create more jobs, let's deliver more value for our customers'.”
In the BBC’s Disclosure documentary at the start of this year, several members of the Brewdog’s US staff said they saw Watt giving private, late-night tours of the brewery to customers.
Former manager at Brewdog Franklinton in Ohio, Dylan Gray, said he would schedule more men on nights when Watt would be there, and sit with female staff behind the bar “so they wouldn’t feel uncomfortable”.
Watt’s lawyer has since refuted these claims, stating: “At no time has Mr Watt given unwelcome attention to any female bartender, that account is not true – this was fully investigated by Centric HC who concluded that there was no substance to these claims.”
On the podcast chat with Bartlett, Watt revealed he's having regular therapy after his marriage break-up, and has started seeing a specialist to see if he has autism, after reading the conclusions about his character in an April newspaper interview.
A piece had called him an "obsessive" and "cold-eyed" person who struggles to "express empathy or read social cues".
Watt, who said he also now does breathing exercises, said: "Looking at that feedback I started exploring as to whether I am a little bit autistic, and it's still something I'm exploring at the moment.
"But, working with some specialists, I think I might have some kind of light level autism in the mix that would explain some of the social cue thing, some of the mindset thing, and some of the awkwardness as well.
"Because of that exact quote - and I was chatting with my doctor, and she's like 'I've thought that for a while James, quite possibly'.
"So I'm working with a specialist at the moment to see if there's a diagnosis there or not.
"I definitely need to do better in empathy 100%, I think I've reflected and learned more than I have in my entire life over the last 12 months.
"One of the things I'm definitely working on at the moment is how can I be more empathetic as a leader."
Watt continued: "Going through the last few years I've had hyper-vigilance, just when you're constantly on alert, jammed in kind of fight or flight, I've had anxiety.
"From a business perspective it's been really tough - we've felt like we've been under siege for large parts the last couple of years, and some of that's been with things that are untrue."
Asked directly about whether he'd sought help at any point, Watt responded: "I got therapy, I actually started when I separated from my ex-wife to kind of help us through that transition, help us be the best co-parents we could to our two amazing little daughters, and I've continued going because I just think it's really useful.
"Being CEOs is lonely, in the tendency 'let's just bottle all this stuff and let's keep going with it'.
"I think I can be a better leader if I've got someone to talk to about those things.
"I actually did last year five days of intensive therapy in the woods outside of Nashville, so I was living in a little hut for five days and kind of doing an intensive course."
While Watt, 39, now admits he had been too tough with employees in the past - prompting a total overhaul of staff relations following reviews - he and his lawyer have refuted many of the claims and have launched legal action over some they say are false.
He has denied claims about misconduct and says while some other complaints about management were justified, some were falsely made just to financially damage the company.
The Scottish brewer has now spent £9m on people and fixing "toxicity" in its culture, including improving salaries and benefits and giving shares for staff.
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